Tag: Video game live streaming

Twitch Mega Streamer xQc Signed By Gambling Company For $100 Million

Twitch’s biggest streamer, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, is signing with the company’s newest rival, Kick, a streaming platform that offers better revenue splits and also appears to be centered around online gambling. The non-exclusive deal is valued at up to $100 million over two years, and is the latest and biggest blow to Twitch as creator discontent continues to mount.

Rooster Teeth’s RWBY x Justice League Collab Puts Batman’s New Anime Abilities To Good Use

As first reported by The New York Times, the agreement will pay out $35 million per year, with $30 million in additional incentives available if xQc hits certain benchmarks. As Dexerto points out, this would make it the 12th biggest annual payout in all of sports, putting xQc right ahead of Kevin Durant.

Kick is a streaming platform startup funded by online gambling companies including Easygo Gaming and Stake.com. Following Twitch’s crackdown on gambling promotion last fall, the platform attracted big names like Adin Ross, BruceDropEmOff, and Trainwreckstv with its lax rules and 5/95 revenue split for creators. It’s not yet clear if Kick is profitable or how it plans to become so, but it has managed to benefit from a backlash against Twitch as the Amazon-owned platform has sought to more aggressively monetize the people making content for it.

A “child of Twitch” raised in its often-toxic chat, xQc started in the world of League of Legends before moving on to Overwatch, briefly competing in Blizzard’s Overwatch League before eventually being released from the Dallas Fuel after a series of suspensions for offensive comments. He pivoted to being a full-time content creator in 2018, with this mix of high-level play, unfiltered remarks, and an endless penchant for controversy turning him into Twitch’s most-watched streamer by 2021.

By 2022, leaks revealed that xQc had earned $8 million from subscriptions on the platform. That same year, he lost $1.8 million in a single month from online gambling. While his contract with Kick doesn’t preclude him from streaming on Twitch, the latter has a rule against simulcasting, making it unclear how much time, if any, xQc will still devote to the platform that helped turn him into a star in the first place.

“It’s time,” xQc tweeted on June 16, when his new partnership with Kick was announced. The post included a video promising his content would remain unchanged on the new platform. Directly below that was a retweet showing support for streamer Nickmercs, who’d recently come under fire for making anti-LGBTQ+ remarks.

Ethan Gach

Source link

June 16, 2023
Big-Name Twitch Streamer Amouranth Got Banned Again For Some Reason [Update]

Update 5/5/2023 1:30 p.m. ET: After just 24 hours, Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa’s Twitch channel has been reinstated, Dexerto reports. Don’t expect to watch previous livestreams, though, as all of her VODs have been nuked. All that’s left for now are clips clipped by her fans. Original story follows.

Fortnite Introduces Force Abilities In Latest Star Wars Collab

Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa, one of Twitch’s top-performing and most popular female streamers, has been yeeted off the platform. She was hit with what appears to be a temporary ban on May 4, though the reason is unknown.

Read More: The Surprising Reason Twitch Star Amouranth Hasn’t Ditched NSFW Content (Yet)

Amouranth is a household name on Amazon’s livestreaming platform. With over six million Twitch followers (and millions more across Instagram and YouTube), Amouranth is easily the purple streamer’s most recognizable female creator next to Imane “Pokimane” Anys. She’s been in hot water before, particularly for regularly streaming in skimpy bikinis, but that hasn’t stopped her from charting highly on Twitch. Despite receiving a few bans in the past that lasted no more than a couple of days, Amouranth consistently pulls in thousands of absolutely down-bad viewers. Yeah, she’s beautiful, but she’s also entertaining and wholesome, so it’s no wonder why folks create waiting rooms for and replays of her livestreams. Unfortunately, her main channel is currently unavailable on Twitch.

Amouranth’s Twitch ban seems temporary for now

As spotted by Dexerto, Amouranth is now banned for the first time since October 2021. As is customary when a creator gets booted off the platform, their channel displays the standard text: “This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.” Interestingly, she hasn’t streamed since at least May 1, suggesting that perhaps something in one of her videos-on-demand (VODs) led to the ban. However, because her channel has been nuked, you can’t view her content, so there’s no way to determine, at least for now, why Twitch decided to ban her.

At the time of this writing, Amouranth and Twitch haven’t publicly said anything on the matter. Kotaku has reached out to Amouranth for comment. A Twitch representative told Kotaku that it doesn’t comment on specific individual streamer bans.

Despite this lack of explanation, Dexerto posited an interesting theory that might explain the ban. The publication speculated that the burgeoning drama between Amouranth and fellow streamer Adriana Chechik, which escalated on April 27 as Amouranth responded to Chechik’s calling her “a fucking cunt” by saying she wanted to fight her in a ring—most likely a reference to Creator Clash, an annual charity boxing event that started in May 2022—could be the reason for Amouranth’s latest Twitch ban.

According to Twitch’s community guidelines revolving around violence and threats, any violations of its rules on or off the platform could result in a temporary suspension or a permanent ban depending on the severity.

“Acts and threats of violence are counterproductive to promoting a safe, inclusive, and friendly community,” the guidelines read. “Violence on Twitch is taken seriously and is considered a zero-tolerance violation, and all accounts associated with such activities on Twitch will be indefinitely suspended.”

Read More: Amouranth Can’t Be Your Girlfriend, She’s Building An Empire Beyond Twitch

Amouranth isn’t the only big-name creator to have been yeeted off the platform recently. GTA streamer Bruce “BruceDropEmOff” Ray was banned three times this year, with his latest exile happening on May 3. Internet personality Dalauan “LowTierGod” Sparrow was banned at the tail end of April. And both Cloud9 streamer Hans “Forsen” Fors and Kai Cenat, the new King of Twitch, were temporarily banned last month before their channels got reinstated a week later. Twitch seems to be clapping tons of popular streamers right now.

Levi Winslow

Source link

May 5, 2023
The Red Cross Challenged Gamers To Not Commit War Crimes
Image: Epic Games
The International Committee of the Red Cross has partnered up with a bunch of Twitch streamers to encourage gamers to not commit war crimes in popular shooters like Call of Duty. The ICRC hopes that its event, “Play by the Rules,” will educate players on the statutes of actual war. The organization has even created its own Fortnite mode to help communicate what those rules are.

The Witcher 3 Meets Tense Roguelike PvE Card-Battling In Rogue Mage

Read More: War Crimes in Video Games Draw Red Cross Scrutiny

“Every day, people play games set in conflict zones right from their couch. But right now, armed conflicts are more prevalent than ever,” the ICRC website said. “And to the people suffering from their effects, this conflict is not a game. It destroys lives and leaves communities devastated. Therefore, we’re challenging you to play FPS by the real Rules of War, to show everyone that even wars have rules—rules which protect humanity on battlefields IRL.”

As part of the event, on the ICRC’s official Twitch channel streamers have played a number of games while adhering (or attempting to adhere) to the Laws of Conflict, including PUBG Battlegrounds, Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, Rainbow 6 Siege, and Escape From Tarkov. In addition to the Play by the Rules event, the ICRC created its own Fortnite mode that’s designed to convey the rules of war in the context of competitive play.

For those curious, the official rules of war for the ICRC’s Play by the Rules event (which have been streamlined to account for video game mechanics) are:

No thirsting (don’t shoot downed/unresponsive enemies)

No targeting non-violent NPCs

No targeting civilian buildings

Use med kits on everyone

ICRC

This isn’t the first time the ICRC has urged players to critically think about the rules of war. Back in 2017, the ICRC hosted a similar event in an Arma III DLC called Law of War. In Law of War, gamers put down their weapons and took on the role of humanitarian workers as they respond to people in crisis, deactivate mines, and speak with an investigative journalist. According to a blog post from Arma III developer Bohemia Interactive, the DLC raised a total of $176,667, which it donated to the ICRC.
Isaiah Colbert

Source link
April 19, 2023
Twitch, YouTube Streamers Raise Big Funds For Syria-Turkey Earthquake Relief

Things are looking dire for Syria and Turkey.
Photo: Anadolu Agency (Getty Images)

Twitch isn’t just a place where artificial intelligence festers and drama proliferates. It’s also a useful organizational platform for raising awareness around and funds for various global causes, which is exactly what a handful of big-name streamers, like Ben “CohhCarnage” Cassell and Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker, are using it for in the wake of the calamitous earthquakes that have devastated Syria and Turkey in recent days.

The southwest Asian countries, Syria and Turkey, were decimated by two powerful earthquakes earlier this week, killing upwards of 7,000 people and displacing more than 150,000 others. As of this publication, survivors are still being pulled out from the rubble, including a newborn baby who still had their umbilical cord attached. Things are looking dire for Syrian and Turkish people at this moment.

In response to the destruction impacting both countries, popular Twitch and YouTube streamers, from Hasanabi to IShowSpeed to Ludwig and more, are raising funds to aid in the humanitarian crisis.

The fundraiser, which was started by Hasanabi and will benefit charities such as the nonprofit organization AKUT and Turkish rock star Haluk Levent’s organization Ahbap, has already brought in over $700,000. Scrubbing through the list of top donors to the effort reveals who else has joined the effort and donated money. This includes content creators like Seán “Jacksepticeye” McLoughlin ($10,000), Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter (also $10,000), Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren ($5,000), CohhCarnage (also $5,000), Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. ($2,000), and many more. Even notorious gambling streamer Tyler “Trainwreck” Niknam pledged to gift $150,000 in bitcoin to “legitimate humanitarian charities” that take the cryptocurrency. And, of course, Hasanabi donated $25,000 of his own money to the cause.

G/O Media may get a commission

Kotaku reached out to CohhCarnage, Hasanabi, IShowSpeed, and Trainwreck for comment but did not get a reply in time for publication.

This is amazing to see. Too often, Twitch coverage focuses on the negativity of the platform. Sure, there’s always something absurd and strange happening on Amazon’s livestreaming service, like the AI Seinfeld show that was recently banned, but it’s beautiful to witness some of the biggest stars—and those who have since left the platform for greener pastures on YouTube—coming together to help those that need it. If you can donate, please consider lending a helping hand.

Levi Winslow

Source link

February 7, 2023
Huge Dong Makes Appearance During Streaming Awards Show

Screenshot: Twitch

Spanish streamer TheGrefg is one of the biggest stars on Twitch, so much so that he recently held his own awards show that drew almost two million viewers. And everyone watching was, for a moment, treated to a big ol’ ASCII penis.

First, some background. TheGrefg has almost 20 million YouTube subscribers. Over 11 million Twitch followers. Even if you don’t know who he is because he doesn’t’ speak your language, the dude is one of the most popular streamers on the planet; we wrote about him in 2021 when he “obliterated the all-time Twitch viewership record” in a clip…revealing his own Fortnite skin:

For years now, Twitch’s record for most concurrent viewers on a single streamer’s channel has been hotly contested, with streamers topping each other in slow-building increments. Today, however, Spanish streamer TheGrefg made everybody else look like they’d been wrestling for discarded peanut shells. As of writing, he topped out at nearly 2.5 million—a new all-time record that beats not just individual channels, but entire games.

The event we’re talking about today—called Premios ESLAND—is actually the second year running that he’s been able to host his own awards show specifically for Spanish-speaking streamers, streaming and related events/stunts. And it’s quickly become a huge event; this year’s show drew 1.75 million viewers, and that’s not counting the folks in attendance watching it live.

Look at this crowd! That’s Mexico City’s famous Auditorio Nacional, and TheGrefg packed it out for the show:

G/O Media may get a commission

70% Off

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Two-Month Subscription

Gaming time
Grants two months of access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which gives you access to Game Pass on your Xbox, PC, and Phone, lets you play online, and even adds an EA Play subscription too, for even more games at under $10.

Anyway, being the second time he’s run one of these shows—and that he lives on the internet—you might think he or his producers would know not to cut to the live chat on the big screen up on stage. Yet this year he did just that, and as you can see in the video below, he regretted it about as quickly as a human can register the sensation:

In the interests of accuracy and truth in reporting, here is the NSFW image:

Screenshot: Twitch

“ha”

Luke Plunkett

Source link

January 30, 2023
Nobody Was Ready For This Twitch Streamer’s Answer To ‘Show Feet’

What would you do if a random stranger asked to see your feet? Probably chuckle awkwardly and start walking faster. Streamer Nyy did neither. She had a better idea, and her Twitch chat will never be the same again.

“Feet please,” asked Twitch user sissy6668. It’s a common refrain in online chats, but one that’s rarely answered. Internet DJ Nyy, formerly known as Nyykage, shockingly obliged mid-way through a set on yesterday’s livestream. The next thing the chat knew, Nyy had thrown a leg up on her desk with a foam lobster flip-flop on her foot. “This what you’re looking for?” she asked right before the beat dropped.

The Twitch chat went wild, and folks on Twitter did too once Nyy clipped the moment and set it loose into the briny waters of the internet. The nicknames quickly proliferated—lobster floppers, flopsters, crustacean 3000s—as did people’s amazement. “THIS WAS A MASTERPIECE!” responded one person. “The absolute definition of never let them know your next move, a plo[t] twist at every turn! IT SENT ME LMAO.”

G/O Media may get a commission

Up to 40% off

Samsung Smart TVs

Vivid colors and deep blacks
It’s Oscar season which means it’s time to binge all the nominations before the big day. Why not enjoy these pieces of art on a new TV from our friends at Samsung?

What can I say, people are weird about feet. Especially on Twitch. Searches for “Streamers’ feet” have a combined 73 billion views on TikTok. There are YouTube videos entirely about rating different streamers’ feet. Some streamers have even gotten banned for showing their feet.

That’s allegedly what happened to Thai Twitch streamer JustKethJustKeth. She claimed Twitch banned her for three days earlier this month for flashing her foot. She was letting viewers pay to spin a wheel that would make her do certain things, including show off her stumps. “It’s just a meme bruh,” she tweeted at the time.

Though as Dexerto points out, Twitch does have strict rules against things like “fetishizing behavior” and selling sexual content on the platform, which is vague as hell but, well, welcome to Twitch.

Nyy, on the other hand, managed to turn the entire thing on its head. “The Lobster Floppers gifted from my mod were not always loved but in the short span of one whole day they have become family,” she told Kotaku in an email. “Warding off bad vibes, feet inquiries, and most importantly, providing effortless fashion.”

No doubt the flopster fan cams won’t be far behind. “Everyone needs a pair of Crustacean 3000’s in their closet come 2024,” Nyy wrote. “Lukewarm trolls can not thrive when you already possess the weirder arsenal.”

Ethan Gach

Source link

January 27, 2023
AI VTuber Banned For ‘Hateful Conduct,’ Now Undistinguishable From Real Twitch Stars

Screenshot: Vedal / Twitch / Kotaku

If you watched even a minute of Neuro-sama streaming on Twitch you knew it was only a matter of time before the AI-controlled Vtuber got banned. The channel is currently offline for two weeks due to “hateful conduct,” though it’s not immediately clear what the offending incident was.

“Okay so banned for 2 weeks obviously, not sure why something about hateful conduct,” Neuro-sama’s creator, a user who goes by Vedal, wrote in the Vtuber’s Discord earlier today. “Will try to appeal and find out more the good news for you guys is this gives me so much time to work on improvements and upgrades so hopefully by the time she’s unbanned she will be better than ever.”

Hundreds of fans responded beneath the message with crying emoji. On Twitter, the account Out of context Neuro called on Twitch to “free my girl.”

Neuro-sama started making waves in the video game streaming space back in December when she bantered with viewers in the Twitch chat while playing the rhythm game Osu! Unlike other Vtubers which are only people posing as anime avatars, Neuro-sama was the real deal, trouncing opponents in online matches while commenting on everything from Pewdiepie to League of Legends. More recently she’s been playing Minecraft and taking singing lessons.

G/O Media may get a commission

Up to $100 credit

Samsung Reserve

Reserve the next gen Samsung device
All you need to do is sign up with your email and boom: credit for your preorder on a new Samsung device.

The potential pitfalls of an AI built on globs of internet text and viewer prompts immediately became apparent, however. Early on one user asked Neuro-sama about the Holocaust. “I’m not sure if I believe it,” she responded.

Vedal told Kotaku last week he had immediately worked to improve the Twitch channel’s chat filters and Neuro-sama’s responses after that in order to avoid similar mishaps in the future. It’s a fine line between keeping her interesting and making her un-cancelable though. A big reason some viewers tune into her streams is clearly to watch her go off script, including rants about how she smells bad or her favorite kind of weed. No doubt getting banned will only increase her street cred and hype by the time she returns.

Twitch and Vedal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ethan Gach

Source link

January 11, 2023
The Year In Twitch Pol Himbo King Hasan Piker

Hasan’s head looks normal-sized here, guys.
Image: Hasanabi on Twitch / Kotaku

Hasan Piker is many things. He’s a hardcore himbo, an amateur gamer, and frequent heated moment haver. He speaks to legions of young men, women, and enbys on the internet almost every day via his wildly popular Twitch channel, and feeds their parasocial bond via his other social media accounts. Even though he spends most of his time on Twitch reacting to political clips, yelling at his chat, and eating, he’s currently the number 10 most-watched streamer on the platform. That’s because Hasan is the perfect mix of intelligence, sexiness, and bro-ness, through which he effortlessly courts legions of lovers and haters.

When Hasan buys a Porsche, the internet riots. When he crushes a watermelon with his thighs, they swoon. When he jokes about the Queen of England dying, they go catatonic. To the millions who know him or know of him he’s a champagne socialist, a hypocrite, an important political commentator, and the guy who fucks your mom. He is a prime example of the power of social media, the intricacies of parasocial relationships, and the importance of media literacy.

Like him or not, Hasan Piker is the reason many young folks know about politics today, and as an out-and-proud Hasanabi head—I watch his streams every day…notice me, Hasan—it only seems fitting that we look back at the year in Hasan Piker.

Alyssa Mercante

Source link

December 29, 2022
Streamer xQc Says He Put $500,000 On France To Win The World Cup, Womp

Photo: Quality Sport Images (Getty Images)

Like a lot of other people around the world, streamer xQc put a bet on the World Cup final earlier tonight. Unlike a lot of other people, however, he claims he threw down half a million dollars, then publicly bragged about it before kick-off.

Here is the shot:

(Note that xQc has been caught up in the controversy over Twitch’s decision to ban gambling on the site, brought on in large part down to partnerships like the one between xQc and Stake, the company involved in this bet)

His bravado was understandable! I loved the Messi narrative as much as the next football fan, but seeing France put both my teams (Australia and England) to the sword without breaking a sweat—and while missing stars like Benzema, Pogba and Kante—made their march to a second successive World Cup win feel somewhat inevitable.

But no! After one hell of a final, Argentina survived first a Kylian Mbappe-led comeback and then a nervy penalty shootout to emerge victorious, winning their third World Cup final, and first since 1986. Their side is full of great players, from wily veteran Angel Di Maria to beloved shithouser Emi Martinez, but the real star (and focus of the entire planet’s media) was of course on Lionel Messi. The best player in the world over the last 15 years, the one thing missing from his trophy cabinet—and for certain folks his place among the absolute all-time greats—had been a World Cup triumph, so it was wonderful to be able to see him close out what is surely his last campaign with a win.

Anyway! I’m not here to give you a game recap, I’m just providing context as to why putting $500,000 down on France to win is called a bet, and not a sure thing.

Here’s the chaser.

At least he took it well! It was indeed a good game all around, and a fun watch. Especially for those of us who watched it for free.

Luke Plunkett

Source link

December 18, 2022
Report: Streamer Deleted From TV Station’s Feed After Abusive, Misogynist Video Resurfaces

Photo: Zac Goodwin – PA Images (Getty Images)

Streamer, YouTuber and all-round internet celebrity IShowSpeed has recently been helping one of the biggest TV stations in Europe, Sky Sports, with its broadcasts of English Premier League matches. That was, reportedly, until the executives at the channel found out about a video that went viral back in April.

03:51

Halo Infinite Winter Update’s New Multiplayer Maps

Wednesday 4:38PM

IShowSpeed—more commonly known as simply ‘Speed’—had been in the stands earlier this month to watch his team Manchester United play Fulham in the league (and then my beloved Aston Villa for the League Cup). While there, he helped present segments for the channel and appeared on their social media feeds. Here’s one (surviving) example:

And here’s another (uploaded independently by someone who had saved the footage), showing him failing to recognise either Jamie Redknapp or Louis Saha:

Ishowspeed in SKY SPORTS STUDIO reacting to no RONALDO

Speed, who got famous streaming games like Fortnite, NBA 2K and FIFA, was presumably brought in by Sky to leverage his internet following and supposed appeal to younger football fans, which at time of posting stands at 13 million YouTube subscribers and 5.4 million Instagram followers (he is permanently banned from Twitch).

G/O Media may get a commission

As of today, though, nearly all of Speed’s promotional material on Sky’s social media has been deleted (with the exception of that single Tweet above), with The Athletic reporting that Sky made the decision after they were made aware of a video that did the rounds in April—one that became so notorious we reported on it—in which Speed made incredibly hostile and misogynistic comments to his teammates:

While Speed later apologised for those comments, they were so bad that Riot Games banned him from not just Valorant, but League of Legends as well. His Twitch ban, meanwhile, was also for misogyny, just a different video. It’s weird—given that it was so widely reported, the tweet above having 180,000 likes and 11.7 million views and it was only 7 months ago—that nobody at Sky thought to even Google his name before putting him in the spotlight like this!

Luke Plunkett

Source link

November 14, 2022
Buy Two Twitch Subs And They’ll Throw In A 3-Month Xbox Game Pass Trial

Image: Microsoft / Twitch / Kotaku / NurPhoto (Getty Images)

Here’s something you might want to know: For the next week, Twitch is partnering up with Microsoft and offering three-month PC Game Pass trials to Twitch users who purchase two subscriptions.

From November 3 until November 11, Twitch viewers who purchase two subscriptions or gift subs from their preferred streamers (usually $4.99 a pop, so about $10) will receive a three-month trial for Microsoft’s wildly popular games-on-demand service. Note, though, that the three-month trial is only good for the PC version of Game Pass.

If you do the thing, you’ll get a code sent to your Twitch notification inbox to redeem for the three-month Game Pass trial on Xbox’s website. Fair warning, the offer is only valid for new Game Pass members, and won’t be available for Twitch viewers in every county. To see if your spawn point makes you eligible for this free trial, as well as other nitty-gritty details, be sure to check out Twitch’s official blog post about the promotion.

“This is just one of the ways we’re experimenting with giving you more for watching and streaming on Twitch,” Twitch wrote in the blog. “This is an added benefit to everything you already receive from subbing to your favorite streamers, including custom emotes, badges, Channel Points multipliers, as well as ad-free viewing and sub-only chat—when enabled.”

Kotaku reached out to Twitch for comment

G/O Media may get a commission

Read More: Xbox Game Pass Is Surprisingly Loaded This Month

For those still feeling the Halloween spirit, Twitch’s giveaway comes at an opportune time considering this month’s Game Pass offerings will include the likes of Ebb Software’s Cronenberg-esque first-person horror adventure Scorn, the rat-infested puzzle game, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and the first two seasons of Telltale Games and Skybound Games’ The Walking Dead. It also probably doesn’t hurt to show your favorite streamers some love by throwing them a couple of bucks ahead of Twitch’s parent company, Amazon, taking a bigger cut out of streamers’ ad revenue. (Twitch president Dan Clancy attributes the coming pay nerf to increased server costs.)

Twitch’s Game Pass three-month trial codes will expire at midnight on November 18, so if you get one, don’t waste any time before redeeming.

Isaiah Colbert

Source link

November 4, 2022
The Scariest Things That Happened In Gaming In 2022

Image: Warner Bros. / Devolver Digital / Bandai Namco / Innersloth / Kotaku / Mia Stendal / Bibadash (Shutterstock)

On an average day, my friends might ask me how my job is going. I’ll smile, tell them “It’s going great,” and then launch into a story about one of the most fucked up things they’ve ever heard of. And now I get to give the recap to you.

Spooky season is upon us, but the chronically online gamers at Kotaku know that terrifying shit is happening in our space all the time. It’s not just the games that are occasionally horrifying—it’s also how the industry grinds humans into dust, how giant corporations are increasingly looking to put the screws to the average consumer, and how abuse of power comes as no surprise.

Some of the spookiest gaming news stories this year are sad. Some of them are funny. Others will make you want to pull your hair out over the general state of the world. But hey, me too! Let’s be scared and [some other unidentifiable emotion] together!

Sisi Jiang

Source link

October 28, 2022
Overwatch 2 Halloween Twitch Drops: How To Grab A Winston Werewolf Skin (And More)

Image: Blizzard / Kotaku

It’s time for more Overwatch 2 Twitch drops! This time it’s in celebration of the spooky season. Twitch viewers will have a chance at earning two cosmetics starting October 25, plus a couple others later in November. As with all Twitch drops, you’ll need to link your Battle.net account to your Twitch account, plus a few other important details. So let’s go over it.

When are the Overwatch 2 Halloween Twitch Drops?

According to Blizzard’s blog covering the details, the Halloween-themed Overwatch 2 Twitch drops start on October 25 at 2 p.m. ET through to November 6 at 2 p.m.

After the candy corn season is behind us, another Twitch drop with cosmetics for Reinhardt and Brigitte will start on November 15 at 2 p.m. ET through to November 30 at 2 p.m.

How to get Werewolf Winston Legendary Skin

As is customary with Twitch drops, you’ll need to log some hours watching Overwatch 2. But it doesn’t need to be all at once or the same channel. You’re free to check out different channels at different times to earn progress toward your drops.

G/O Media may get a commission

To start, you’ll need to watch two hours of Overwatch 2 on Twitch for the Werewolf spray. Then, watch an additional four hours (six total) for the Werewolf Winston Legendary skin. You can watch any channel in the Overwatch 2 category on Twitch.

Past experience has told us it pays to be sure a streamer is offering drops. Any channel in the game’s category should qualify, but double-check the title of the stream as many streamers include “Twitch drops” or “drops enabled” (or similar language) to indicate their channel is participating. There may also be a bot in the streamer’s chat indicating that drops are enabled. Or, you could always ask in the chat.

You must link your Battle.net and Twitch accounts. Even if you’ve done it before and have participated in previous Twitch drops, you don’t want to log half-a-dozen hours of Overwatch viewing for nothing. Visit the connections page on your Battle.net account and follow the link to connect your Twitch account. Follow all the instructions on Twitch’s side and you’ll be set.

If you’ve done it right, it should look something like this (with your Twitch avatar and username):

Screenshot: Blizzard / Kotaku

Watching Twitch on game consoles and smart TV apps DO NOT count. You must watch Twitch on a computer’s web browser or the Android/iOS Twitch app to get your drops!

I watched everything. Where’s my stuff?

In-game rewards from Twitch drops don’t appear in your game automatically. Once you’ve cleared the necessary watch-time, head on over to the Drops Inventory menu on Twitch to claim your reward(s). Claimed drops will expire after 14 days if your Battle.net account isn’t linked. Claimed items can also take up to 24 hours to appear in your game, so practice a little bit of patience.

How do I enable drops on my stream?

If you stream and want to make sure viewers can participate, a couple of clicks will enable drops on your channel. To make sure your stream will deal out Overwatch 2 Twitch drops, head on over to your “Creator Dashboard.” Under “Viewer Rewards” you’ll see “Drops.” On that page, you’ll click the slider next to “Enable Drops” so it has a purple check mark and you’re good to go!

Screenshot: Twitch / Kotaku

How to claim Reinhardt and Brigitte Twitch Drops

After November 6, you’ll have another opportunity to earn some Twitch Drop-exclusive cosmetics. This time, you can grab the Reinhardt Mug Souvenir after watching two-hours worth of Overwatch 2 on Twitch. Following that, you can earn the Brigitte Kitten Weapon Charm after three additional (five total) hours.

Image: Blizzard

As mentioned above, these drops will be available from November 15 at 12 p.m. ET through to November 30 at 2 p.m.

How do I get my teammates to play support?

I hear you loud and clear. Sadly, I’ve no screenshots or time slots to share for that problem. But if you’re new to Overwatch 2 and are looking for some basic tips to get started, check out our beginner’s guide. And if you’re looking to knock out your timed season challenges, we’ve broken those down so you can get to grinding.

Claire Jackson

Source link

October 25, 2022